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Steve Nelson

Steve Nelson began teaching at photography in the Department of Art and Art History
at Hope College in 1989. Currently he is also serving as the preparator to the De
Pree Art Center gallery where he installs exhibitions throughout the year, from guest
artists' to student shows.

Area of Specialty

His photographs have been exhibited in various gallery and site-specific environments
including abandoned manufacturing spaces.

“My images probe the unconscious desire to search for clarity and understanding. Photography
mirrors the process of this search. Images form a bridge between what was experienced
and the memory of that experience through our subconscious thoughts. Within this search,
questions arise about what is found. Where does the image exist — simultaneously before
us, seen with our eyes, is it both received and remembered? What lies between the
conscious and subconscious where moments of clarity and wakefulness are surrounded
by doubt and uncertainty? It is the spaces within and between these moments that I
seek to record in my photographs.”

Education

MFA, art media studies, Syracuse University, 1985

BFA, photography, Western Michigan University, 1982

Grants

New York Artist Space Grants, Individual Support Grant

Michigan Council for the Art and Cultural Affairs, Creative Artist Grant